During the year, regardless of religion, there are many holidays to be celebrated, and they are embraced by society as we appreciate the fact that not everybody celebrates the same things. Whatever we choose to celebrate is completely a personal choice, but when it comes to keeping children off school - parents have differing ideas.
One woman took to Mumsnet to explain that her 14-year-old daughter is a Pagan, and therefore wanted to take Halloween off to 'celebrate' in her own way. Halloween is traditionally a Celtic pagan ceremony - also known as Samhain, which celebrates the dead with a festival on October 31 and usually features a bonfire and communion with the dead.
The confused mother wrote: "My daughter wants the day of school tomorrow as it's Halloween. She is 14 and Pagan. She has an altar in her room, is often in there doing spells and rearranging her altar.
"She says that legally she is allowed a day off to observe her religious holiday. She says many Muslims stayed off on Eid and it was recorded as an authorised absence.
"She wants to spend the day arranging her room for a new start, do a cleansing ritual, and also a small bonfire ritual before she goes out with her friends after school.
"I don't know. It is a special day to her and Pagans and I don't want to disrespect her beliefs but I feel like a bit of a t** ringing and saying that to school.
"Should I allow it or send her in? She's been off for 10 days and only brought this up last week so I couldn't even check with the school prior."
The post sparked a fierce debate with some parents confused as to why her daughter thought she could have the day off.
One wrote: "I have to work on Christmas Day. Tough s***. We can’t always have time off for holidays that are important to us."
Another said: "Will she be doing school work on Christmas Day then? No presents or Christmas dinner? Sounds like a total skive - or there are other reasons she doesn't want to go to school."
One Mumsnetter harshly commented: "Well, I don't see a problem, as long as she gets ZERO Christmas presents and nothing at Easter!"
Someone else wrote: "What rubbish - she goes to school. Halloween is properly All Hallows Eve as the day before All Saints Day - important dates in the Christian calendar", yet someone replied: "I think you’ll find it’s actually Samhain which predates Christianity."
Others defended the teen, writing: "I do think a committed Pagan should have necessary festivals off school. If she was working, she'd probably be able to ask for them off but it would be unpaid if she couldn't use annual leave. If she's never wanted to before, that would give me pause.
"Paganism is a valid belief system but it is of course very very small compared to most world religions so it's not surprising if most people don't know much about it."
Would you let your child have a day off if they shared a different religion to you? Let us know in the comments.
